One Last Prank
by Elizabeth Belleburn
Summary: The Marauders are in the final year at Hogwarts. They all want to have their pranks to be remembered for all time in the school's history. With the end of the year approaching rapidly, none of them know of a prank up for the job. Join the Marauders as they struggle to come up with their one last prank.
1. Chapter 1

Sirius woke up promptly at 6:00 AM. "Time for a new day to continue gracing the world with my stunning looks." Sirius quietly remarked to himself. Every day for about the past seven years, Sirius had gotten up before the sun, at 6 AM to meticulously style his hair to perfection.

This ritual started off with a steaming shower. By the time the water had reached the proper temperature, Sirius had the day's clothes laid out. Once in the shower, Sirius belted his favorite songs. Some days he sang Elvis, though most days it was classic rock such as Led Zeppelin. Today however, Sirius Black, born from one of the most pureblood families of the wizarding community , sang songs from his favorite movie of all time… Sleeping Beauty.

Unfortunately for the rest of the dormitory, this always woke them up. This morning, James rose from his bed to see Sirius waltz into the room serenading the Marauders with Once Upon A Dream. Sirius had a low, smooth voice and from hours of practice, expertly sang Prince Phillip's part. The part of the duet that he could not sing in key was Princess Aurora's. When he reached her part of the song, it sounded as if a thousand cats were angrily yowling in an alley.

As the rest of the dorm began to get ready, Sirius started to style his long ebony hair to glorious perfection. Peter, annoyed with being woken up early… again to off key singing, whistled Aurora's part of the duet. It was a well-known fact throughout Hogwarts that Peter could whistle… and well. Peter sprang out of bed and jokingly waltzed with Sirius around the room. The two finish the song arm and arm standing on top of a sleeping Remus's bed. Remus, now awake and grumpy, attempted to kick the pair off of his bed. Peter nimbly jumped down, landing in a curtsy, while Sirius gracefully stepped down off of the impromptu stage, accepting the non-existent applause, and took a bow.

The four best friends, all burst into spontaneous laughter. The next step in Sirius's routine was to mark off the previous day on the calendar posted on the wall. The contents of the wall varied and took up the entire space, floor to ceiling. The Marauders had pushed all of their beds to one side of the room so their dorm was more of a slumber party, and to make room for the wall. It was a little crowded, but the wall was more important to them then the spaciousness of the room. The wall was covered in assorted papers, photographs, and newspaper clips, it had been there since fourth year. The newspapers were important world events, from both the wizarding world, and the muggle one. Some had faded from white to a light grey, or some to yellow. There was an article involving werewolf research, an interview with an imprisoned Death Eater, many Quidditch results from all of their favorite teams, and many more. There were all the photographs from their collective time at Hogwarts, all of their friends, group photos, places that individuals wanted to explore, and an embarrassing amount of a certain red head put up by James. The majority of the rest of the papers were prank ideas. Some started with a sheet of paper. The base idea of the prank, or an elaborate plan, often signed by the creator. On top of that sheet were the comments. The criticisms. The admiration. The expansion of ideas. Then a final sheet of paper describing in intense detail, the chaotic result. There were other things on the wall, poetry, sketches, adds, notes, and lists, but there were too many to name.

Like he did every morning, Sirius made an X through the previous day's box. Today was different. There were not enough boxes left until graduation. This had slowly been gnawing on all of their minds, but none had vocalized the thought. The end of the year was coming too quickly.

If a student had asked one of the Marauders if they were ready for their education at Hogwarts to be over, all of them would have said absolutely. Remus would have said, "Definitely, after NEWTS are over, I can help people with my education and hopefully put a stop to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." Peter would have replied, "Yah, it will be a party every day, just without the notes, lectures, and homework." James would have exclaimed, "I can't wait to take my pranking to the next level, join the Order, and snog Lily." Sirius would have made a long speech, "Imagine what the world is missing right now. My stunning looks are locked up in this tower like a damsel in distress. I should be a shining knight in armor, or more accurately, my leather jacket, damsels will fight over who I rescue. I will be able to reach my full potential out there."

The truth was none of them were ready. Remus was worried about the future. Because of his "furry little problem" getting a job would be tasking, impossible even. How would he make it through a full moon without his friends to go on adventures with him under the light of the full moon? Peter was paranoid. With You-Know-Who getting more and more powerful by the day, how could he not get killed? Compared to the rest of his friends, he was ordinary, he wasn't smart like Remus, funny like James, or coy like Sirius, he was just Peter. James was terrified. What if Lily found some twat better than him and left him? Or more pressing, how could he make sure that his friends were out of harm's way if he wasn't there to protect them? Sirius was depressed. People still thought he was like the rest of his family, a Death Eater. The rest of the world wouldn't accept him like his mates did; they would see him as just another snobbish Black.

None of them were ready to leave the safety of Hogwarts.


	2. Chapter 2

James had been thinking, which for him was always a dangerous pastime. He had been wracking his brain for weeks, but it came up completely empty. It was the first time that he was utterly incapable of coming up with a prank. Unlike his previous pranks, this one mattered. This prank would be his classmate's lasting memory of him and his friends.

The group of lanky teens exited their dorm and headed down to the common room. Sirius and James slid down the stairs, nearly falling off the railing. There were minimal casualties this time. Remus and Peter followed skipping hand in hand, hopping down the steps. "Good Morning!" Sirius shouted into the bustling common room.

"Look, we only hit a second year this time Pads! Sorry Justin, we'll try for no casualties tomorrow, we've almost got it down," James turned around and helped the second year back to his feet. Peter and Remus jumped over the final step. The four sung and danced their way out of the common room, stuck in their own world. What they did not notice were the eyes following them across the warm, cozy room. Students looked up from their books, groups of girls turned their heads, friends paused their conversations to wonder. What would it be like to live the life of Sirius, James, Peter, or Remus? What would it be like to know exactly where you belonged, and only need those few who mattered the most?

"Good morning," Remus said to the Fat Lady, who was still a little tipsy from last night.

"Huh, oh good morning Remus, how are you?" she asked.

"Just splendid, have a lovely day," he called over his shoulder, racing to catch up with the gang. They raced down the steps, taking two at a time, artfully jumping over the missing stairs into the Great Hall. The ever caring house elves had already set up a four person breakfast for the mischief makers, knowing that the four were early risers.

The boys had a routine, they always ate the same thing for breakfast, all of the house elves knew their food preferences by heart. Remus was a heavy coffee drinker. He took his coffee black and had at least two cups to start his day. On the side, he nibbled on a bagel, lightly spread with butter. Sirius ate everything he could get his hands on. Miraculously, he never gained weight, but he ate obscene amounts of food for every meal. His plate contained a mountain of eggs, pancakes, and assorted fruits. James drank earl grey tea in the mornings with large amounts of toast. He kept the spreads for the toast on a rotation to keep things interesting. Peter, like Remus, was addicted to coffee, but he took his with ridiculous amounts of chocolate creamer, sugar, and whipped cream. He ate a breakfast sandwich including toast, jam, egg, bacon, and of course, cheese. The Marauders had discovered that it was easiest to plan pranks and full moons when no one was awake enough to gather in the Great Hall. They had tried planning at other times, but Sirius always wanted to take snack breaks so nothing ever got done. "So...have you guys noticed how few days of this term are left?" James asked while spreading strawberry jam across his toast.

"Yeah, so what's our prank going to be this month?" Sirius asked with a mouth full of food.

"Gross mate, close your mouth Pads. This one needs to be epic," Peter added. Remus sat up and set down his coffee, clearly just now awake enough to contribute to the conversation.

"No pressure, but this will be the prank that everyone remembers us by. So, James, what do you have in mind?"

"That's the thing mates, I got nothing." Sirius about choked on his food.

"Prongs. Mate. You're trying to tell me that after seven years of countless pranks, never ending ideas, and beautiful chaos," Sirius paused to dramatically wipe away a single tear from the memories, "when it finally matters, you have not one single idea?"

"Well I have ideas, but nothing that is good enough to be our last prank. All of them are just too small scale, or too similar to everything we have already done, just… I don't know."

"What about turning the stairs into a water park?" Peter suggested.

"Nah, we did that fourth year I think," James answered.

"What about...no we've already done that," Sirius thought out loud.

"Polyjuice, nope, nevermind, that was last year," Remus exclaimed, then took a large sip of coffee, deep in thought.

Slowly, but steadily, a crowd of students entered the Great Hall, conversations buzzed around the four. And for the first time in a long time, the Marauders sat in silence.


End file.
